What does poulterer mean?
A poulterer was a person who sold poultry and game, usually in a market stall or shop. The occupation belonged to a commercial world in which fresh birds and other food animals were sold by specialist traders, and the word often appears in accounts of markets, shops, and domestic life from earlier centuries. Although the term may also have covered the sale of fish or other foodstuffs in some historical contexts, poultry and game are its central associations. Today, “poulterer” is not normally used in everyday English; it is chiefly a literary or archaic word, often encountered in historical fiction, archival records, and descriptions of old trade. Its survival is a useful reminder that specialized food trades once had distinct names, while modern language more often uses broader terms such as “poultry seller” or “game merchant.”
nounA person who sold poultry, game, and sometimes other foodstuffs, especially in a market or shop. The word is now chiefly found in historical writing and period literature.
- A person who dealt in poultry and game, usually selling them in a shop or market.
- A historical dealer in foodstuffs, especially poultry, game, and sometimes fish.
"The poulterer displayed several brace of partridges and a basket of young ducks in the market."
"The poulterer weighed the hares and wrote the price on a scrap of paper."
"In the nineteenth-century novel, the family bought a Christmas goose from the poulterer."
The ordinary plural of the historical occupational noun.
"Several poulterers competed for customers in the busy market."
Once a familiar market-trading occupation, the poulterer survives mainly in old stories, where a shop of poultry and game can suggest a vivid world of early urban food commerce.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Words that share this root
Related word forms
How poulterer is actually used
This is an archaic or historical occupational term. In modern use it is usually encountered in literature, historical records, or descriptions of traditional markets, and it may sound deliberately period or nostalgic rather than everyday.
Easily confused with poulterer
A poulterer is the person who sold poultry or game, while a poulter was an earlier term associated with a poultry dealer or with the business of dealing in poultry.